Improvement in button-hole cutters



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N.FETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER WASHINGTON D C 4 asitmi 5am.

I WILLIAM S. PORTER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 84,902, dated December 15, 1868.-

IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTON-HOLE CUTTERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all to whom these presents shall come.-

Be it' known that I, WILLIAM S, PORTER, of Boston, in the county of Suii'olk, and State of Massachusetts, have made an invention of a new and useful or improved Button-Hole Gutter; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, due reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and inwhich- F re 1 is a side elevation,

Fiure 2, a longitudinal section, and

Figure 3, a vertical and transverse section of my invention.

This invention relates to means for not only cutting abutton-hole in any description of material in a smooth and perfect manner, but for adjusting, by an expeditious and easy plan, the length of cut or button-hole made by the instrument; the invention further relating to means for regulating the distance of the buttonhoie from the edge of the cloth or other material in which the incision is made.

The invention consists in the employment of two jaws, pivoted together, and'moving toward and from each other in a vertical plane, one of such jaws being provided with a pointed cutter, and the opposite jaw with a slot or passage for receiving such cutter, substantially as hereinafter described.

The invention further consists in applying, in a movable manner, to the inner face of the shank of 'one of the jaws, a stop or abutment, the position of which thereon is fixed relatively to the cutter bya set-screw,

to enable its position to be readily adjusted.

In the drawings above mentioned, AA denote twojaws, as composed respectively of a flat and somewhat extended head, a or a, and a short shank, b or 1), these shanks being pivoted together, as shown at c, and extended beyond such pivots into handles (Z d, after the manner of ordinary scissors.

The heads a a are recessed or slotted through their greatest area, as shown at e e, and into one'of these recesses 01' incisions a triangular and slightly-hooking knife, 1', or cutter, is inserted, the point of such knife extending toward the opposite jaw, and, when such jaws are partially or wholly closed, is secured within the incision of such jaw.

The knife f is retained within its recess by a clampscrew, y, made through the head a, as represented, the head of the screw overlapping the. boundaries of this slot, and serving, by pressure thereupon, to retain the knife firmly in any desired position with respect to the opposite jaw, thevinner edge of this knife'being substantially acirole, struck from the fulcrum of the jaws h, in the drawings, denotes a stop or abutment, ap-

plied to the inner-face of one of the shanks l) or b, and

being of such asize as to retain the inner faces of the heads ('6 or a about parallel to each other.

The said stop or abutment h is retained in place upon the shank by a clamp-screw, i, which extends through a slot, j, made in such shank.

The mode of using the above-described implement will at once manifest itself to intelligent persons.

The cloth or other material isheld in the left hand, and passed between the jaws A A untilits edge comes in contact with the stop h, the handles d (Z being held in the operator'is right hand, and brought together in the same manner as with an ordinary scissors, which has the effect of forcing the jaws A A towartho'ne another, and driving the knife through thematerial and cutting the button-hole, the length of this button-hole being dependent on the portion protruding beyond its aw.

From the above description it will be seen that -it is only necessary to advance or retract the knife, with respect to the edge of the jaw containing it, to form abutton-hole of any desired length? and to insure an equality and uniformity of length of a number of button-holes out by the implement.

The stop It also serves a very useful purpose in varying the distance of the button-hole from the edge ofthe material in which-it is out.

The peculiar shape, as well as relative position of the knife, enables it to make a drawing-stroke and smooth out, and to be forced through the material with the exertion of very little p'ower from a persons hand.

1. I claim the combination and arrangement, with the jaws A and stop h, of the knife f, held in one of said jaws, and made adjustable, so as. to projecta 

